"If helping the poor is a crime, and fighting for freedom is rebellion, then I plead guilty as charged." --Crispin "Ka Bel" Beltran

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Travesty of justice

Streetwise*By Carol Pagaudan-Araullo

Travesty of justice

There is something terribly wrong when the government agency tasked to uphold justice wantonly disregards the rule of law purportedly to prosecute alleged enemies of the state.

Most of us have somehow gotten use to thieves, cheaters, liars and murderers getting away scot-free in this god-forsaken country, especially when they occupy exalted positions in government and society. But sending innocent people to jail on trumped-up charges and without a modicum of due process is a travesty that decent and upright citizens cannot take sitting down.

The Department of Justice grievously violated the right to presumption of innocence and due process of Representative Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran when they upheld his illegal arrest on the basis of a 1985 warrant of arrest for a case that had already been dismissed. Realizing their error, the authorities then immediately filed sedition charges against him in a QC trial court.